Wednesday, January 16, 2013

The debt ceiling is pointless and dangerous and practically all economists agree

Some top-flight economists didn't hold back their criticism of the debt limit. MIT's David Autor remarked, "The question contains its own answer." Chicago's Anil Kashyap pithily summed up the absurd redundancy: "Deciding whether or not to pay the debts incurred to fund the previously approved tax and spending is nuts."

The award for Most Definitive Response goes to the often-definitive Richard Thaler: "The debt ceiling is a dumb idea with no benefits and potentially catestrophic [sic] costs if ever used."

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Some top-flight economists didn't hold back their criticism of the debt limit. MIT's David Autor remarked, "The question contains its own answer." Chicago's Anil Kashyap pithily summed up the absurd redundancy: "Deciding whether or not to pay the debts incurred to fund the previously approved tax and spending is nuts."

The award for Most Definitive Response goes to the often-definitive Richard Thaler: "The debt ceiling is a dumb idea with no benefits and potentially catestrophic [sic] costs if ever used."